Bareksa.com - U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S. economy is growing, and the unemployment rate is lower than it was before the financial crisis in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday (January 20).

"Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?" asked Obama.

"In two weeks, I will send this Congress a budget filled with ideas that are practical, not partisan. And in the months ahead, I'll crisscross the country making a case for those ideas."

The President is using his annual address to challenge a skeptical Republican-led Congress to back tax increases on the wealthy to help lift up middle-class Americans in a State of the Union speech that outlines his vision for his last two years in office.

"Today, we have new tools to stop tax payer-funded bailouts, and a new consumer watchdog to protect us from predatory lending and abusive credit card practices," he said.

"We were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious; that we would crush jobs and explode deficits. Instead, we've seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in fifty years. This is good news people." (Reuters)